I have lived in my current apartment for over a year now and all in all, it's been a positive experience. I haven't had any major mechanical problems occur, the neighbors are generally problem-free (although I'll add more to that in a bit), and I live right in the heart of the city, close to any kind of store, business, or restaurant. I have been a witness to some pretty strange events at times, however, and some of those experiences I will share with you. Not only that, but something that has developed lately that is driving me insane.
A pet peeve of mine is when someone exits or enters the apartment building the same time as you going in the opposite direction and not even making eye contact or leaving the door open for you. That has happened to be on a couple occasions here and it bugged the crap out of me. I mean, talk about rude. Generally that occurs with the younger, college-aged people that live here (and I think a few of them have moved out over the past year). I don't care whether the person is in a huge rush and is late for an engagement (more often than not, they are in a hurry to the bar anyways). How much extra time does it take to say hi or leave the door open for you? Not even 15 seconds! The majority of the time, though, I usually don't run into anybody going in the opposite direction as I.
One neighbor of mine that lives across the hall from me is an older gentleman, probably in his 50's. I haven't really dealt with him much, but on a couple of occasions I've bumped into him. He doesn't seem like the friendliest person in the world. He does seem to get frequent visitors and even a young girl stays with him at times (I'm guessing it's a grand daughter of his). Her bicycle is even sitting out in the hallway as I type, where it's parked pretty much all of the time (which I think should be stored in his apartment if she's not around). There have been a couple of nights where he's drunker than a skunk and he's got the music cranked up really loud. It generally doesn't bother me because I usually sleep with ear plugs anyways, but I hate to be living above or next to him. And it's not like it happens all of the time, just once in a great while. Still, it's the middle of the night and he's got the music blaring (one night, it was country songs) and he's singing along, quite terribly. I have to wonder if he's been smoking dope during those nights, too. And don't park too closely in front of the steps of the building, either. Otherwise he'll go on a profanity-laced tirade, in front of his grand daughter, no less (which I witnessed one time, seeing that my window is right near the front door). Just stay out of his way, is my best advice.
Another incident occured probably in May of this year. A younger couple, probably early 20's, was coming home from a night at the bar. The guy was driving, and the girl was incredibly drunk. She stumbled out of the car and was sicker than a dog. All of a sudden, she leans ontop of the hood of her car and starts throwing up. And naturally, they had to park right in front of my window, although I did have my blinds closed. But hearing the commotion, I had to see what was going on. So I did catch the tail end of what she was doing, with her boyfriend helping her into the building after she puked outside. And don't you think if something like that happened to you that you would clean up the puke the next day or the next opportunity when you felt better (something as simple as throwing a bucket of water on it)? Well she didn't. The next day, crows were even picking at it. The puke stayed on her car and on the sidewalk until it was washed away by rain. I don't think I had ever been more disgusted at the human race after being a witness to that ordeal. I just can't believe some people can be so piggy and disgusting. She basically swept the incident under the rug and probably thought no one else knew it was her. That's where she was wrong. Thankfully, she has since moved out of the building.
Now recently, someone's smoking has been driving me crazy. I don't know if it's been the people in the apartment next to me (which I know they smoke) or the person above me. But the smoke smell wafts into my apartment and it really starts bothering me. I even smell it during the middle of the night and it's hard for me to sleep when I smell it. I don't mean anything negative to anyone reading this who might smoke, but I wish the people who live in this building could at least wait until the next morning to light up a smoke rather than to do it during the middle of the night when people are asleep. The smoke smell hasn't been a problem for me up until the last couple of months. And it's not like it's an everyday occurance, but it does happen two to three days a week (and sometimes more).
One final incident occured in the fall of last year. A younger couple must've had a disagreement of some sort and the guy locked the girl out of the apartment upstairs. She was knocking, beating on the door, crying and pleading for the guy to let her back in, but he wouldn't let her. This went on for up to a half hour before finally the old guy across the hall from me shouted, "shut the f--- up!" He never seems to be afraid to say what's on his mind.
So there you have it, some of the most note-worthy situations in this apartment building during the last year and two months. My goal is to stay here until at least next summer or fall, and then start looking for a permanent place of residence. That's when the house hunting will begin and then I'll have a place all to myself. But until then, I'll stay situated in this building. Like I said, it isn't all bad. The majority of the time, things are pretty peaceful and I never seemed to be bothered. It definitely could be a lot worse.
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